Yasmin looked at Carib and tried not to smile. It made her happy that he was staying, though if it was with her or just at the bunker for the night, she didn’t know.
~I probably shouldn’t take anyone who was with me on this on the next hunt. Maybe it’s better if they just stay at the bunker tonight. I can slip off just before daybreak.~ It seemed like a good idea, but she felt bad about it. Despite the fighting, she’d enjoyed the past two days with a group, being part of – ~Or was it just controlling?~ – something bigger than herself.
She looked at the rest. “Stay or go. But this was the mission, and now it’s ended. I have nothing else to offer you. You want to find me, I’ll be out there somewhere.” She walked out of the room, pausing briefly to put her hand on Carib’s shoulder, then walked out of the lab. It still smelled like scorched flesh. She’d gotten used to that back in her raiding days, but it still wasn’t something she wanted to be near. She found a bedroom with not so many empty meds and sat down. Pain shot through her now that the adrenalin was gone and she panicked as the pain of her two bullet wounds hit her. Her pants wear soaked black in large patches with her blood. She took them off then pulled out her tweezers, which she kept for plucking her eyebrows, and fished around for the slugs. The pencil she put between her teeth broke as the pain got to her, but she managed to get them both out. One in her thigh, one in her calf. Fan-fucking-tastic, she was going to be limping for a while. She bandaged them up, grimacing at the thought of her legs having even more scars than they akready did, and took a stimpak to ease everything and speed up the healing. Some Med-X would be nice, but she wanted a clear her for what she had to do next. She pulled out a scorched book and a pencil, then wrote a letter to Nevra.
Nev,
Evan wasn’t there. But his squad was. Fiends. They are all dead, and he has been taken to another Fiend base up north. I’m worried this’ll turn into a headless gecko chase. I feel it in my heart that he isn’t dead, but I don’t know for how much longer or how much further I’ll need to run. Not that I’ll give up. I’m just worried that this might be the end of me, though not until I find him. I miss him Nev. And you. You’re both the only family I have left. If the ends happily with me bringing him back, let’s all leave, ok? I’ll get you out of the Omertas. I’ll burn the whole place down if I have to. And we’ll get Evan to leave the BoS. Then find somewhere alone for us to live. Maybe go up in those mountains I hear about? Where there’s apparently grass and everything is green. We can have a house there and not worry about our pasts or what’s going on out in the Mojave. It can be just us three, forever. Like it should have been years ago.
I hope by the time you get this I’ve found him and am on my way home. I love you, cousin. Bye.
-Yas
Yasmin finished and looked at the page filled on both sides with her messy scrawl. She felt empty and tired inside. She needed food, but more than anything she needed hope. There was a knowing inside that she’d find him, but when? And what condition would he, would they both, be in?
She fashioned an envelope out of another bit of paper and wrote Nevra’s name and the drop box number on it. She’d be checking it daily, like Yasmin had told her to. Yasmin would find a drop box, or hopefully a courier, tomorrow if possible. Then a town to refuel, then to Evan.
She tucked the letter inside her shirt, then dug through her bag for some chips. Her stomach was killing her and she regretted not bringing a blood pack. Her pants lay heavy with blood on the bed next to her and she felt sick from blood loss. At least it wouldn’t kill her, though if any of the men decided to try to get out there frustration, she might be in trouble. All that bleeding had her feeling sluggish. Though with Carib and Brad around, she felt there was some protection.
